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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1861712, member: 19463&quot;]I am devastated to find that Charles Shultz was copying Mithradates&#039; jeweler.&nbsp; I always thought he was an original talent. </p><p><br /></p><p>It is standard for rulers to have busts used for copying by die cutters.&nbsp; What we don&#039;t know is how accurate the busts were.&nbsp; I have always been impressed by the variations found in some ruler&#039;s portraits.&nbsp; Septimius Severus has several different &#039;looks&#039; in 193 just from Rome and several more from the branch mints.&nbsp; These became more standardized as time passed and when he actually moved into Rome after the civil wars of 193-196.&nbsp; Variations from mint to mint might be attributed to there being a different portrait bust at each but it is harder to explain some differences we see when the die cutters must have been working together in the same building.&nbsp; There are no records, diaries or better evidence of the day to day operations of the mints.&nbsp; The old saying goes: &quot;I would like to have been a fly on the wall so I could see what was going on.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; These days we have security cameras and &#039;tapes&#039; of every phase of life.&nbsp; A thousand years from now, there might be too much data on our civilization from too many flies.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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